Once in a Lifetime
by Broken Opal
Summary: Sora is new to Destiny Island. He becomes friends with Kairi, and meets Riku. They both have a secret, and they both need someone to help them with their pain. Can they help each other? Or will something happen before they get the chance?
1. Meeting the House

Sora watched through the window as he drove along the street with his parents. His father was driving, and his mother was in the passenger seat, talking to no one in particular. Sora had tuned her out a few hours ago when they started their drive to Destiny Island, their new home.

Sora looked at his dad, noticing the way he griped the steering wheel tightly, and the way he never took his eyes off the road when answering his mother, and how his smile stayed in place the whole drive. His father had short brown hair, dark eyes, an average face, and normal smile. His father was, really, ordinary. In looks anyway. Anyone that looked at him, worked with him, or just watched him, would never be able to tell that at home, when his wife wasn't there, he beat and, occasionally, raped his son.

Sora switched his gaze over to his beautiful mother. She had long, black hair that was currently braided down her back and held with a small rubber band. Her eyes were blue, and when she smiled, the whole world seemed to smile with her. His mother could, and has, talked for hours on end without stopping, not really caring if someone was listening or not. People usually did, though. Her voice was soft, and just as beautiful as she was. Sora's mother was smart, too. She graduated high school with straight A's, and was top of all her classes in college. She loved to help people, and was almost always out on some charity event. She thought very highly of her husband and son, and had no idea of what a terrible man her husband really was.

Sora looked back out the window at the ocean, wondering what it would be like to live here. He sighed, and started listening to what his mother was saying when he heard his name.

"They have such a great high school here, Sora." Rose was saying. "I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends quickly. I've spoken with our neighbor, who has a daughter about you're age, you know, and she was telling me about how they have such a great school, and that the teenagers here were all growing up to be such great people. Ellyn said her daughter, Kairi, would be more than happy to show you around and help you make some friends..." Sora tuned her out again. He had already heard this. Sora just wanted to get there and unpack so he could have some time alone. He was about to ask when they'd be there, but he saw his father looking at him in the rear view mirror, and shivered, deciding it would be better not to ask.

After a couple more minutes, a left turn, and then a right turn, and they were there.

"Alright," his father, Simon, said. "This is it. It's great, isn't it?" His mother agreed with him, and Sora just got out of the car.

_It is kind of nice, _Sora thought. _I hope Mom is right, maybe some friends could give me an excuse to be out of the house a lot. _His father started grabbing boxes out of the car, and putting them on the ground. They didn't have much, they bought this house already furnished, and his parents decided to sell most of their things. All they really had were a bunch of clothes, some knick-knacks, some favorite books, sheets, and a few of Sora's favorite posters. Not much.

Sora grabbed two of the four boxes filled with his clothes, and started going in the house. His mother stopped him in the doorway, telling him to pick whichever room he wanted, except the one at the end of the hall. He walked upstairs, and into the first room on the floor. It was a small bedroom, with no windows. It was painted black, had no furniture, and reminded Sora of a box with a door. He walked onto the next room, and decided to take this one as soon as he saw it.

The room had, at first glance, a glass wall. Looking closer, Sora saw that it was just one big window. It started about two feet above the floor, and ended about the same distance from the ceiling. It didn't go all the way to either wall, making it look like a square of the wall cut out and replaced with glace. There was a padded bench going all the way along the window, creating a window seat there. It looked out over the side of their yard, and over to their neighbor's house.

The room itself was painted a light sky blue, and the ceiling was a few shades darker, with clouds painted on it. It had a full size bed, a desk with a chair, a nightstand, and a bookcase, and a dresser, with room left over. There were two doors on one side, and Sora opened the first. It was a walk-in closet, with an over head light, and it looked big enough to fit his entire family's wardrobe in, with room left. He walked over to the other door, and when he opened it, he found a personal full bathroom. Sora was amazed, and he walked out of the room just to make sure this wasn't the room his mother told him not to pick. It wasn't.

"I thought you'd pick that one, honey," Rose said from behind Sora, making him jump. Rose laughed. "I'm sorry Sora; I didn't mean to scare you. Do you like the room."?

"Haha, yeah Mom. I love it. It has its own bathroom and everything! Are you sure you and Dad don't want it?"

"Oh, no. We have that one over there," Rose pointed to the last door on the right side of the hallway, "and that one had a hot tub in the bathroom." Rose giggled. "You're father wanted that one, and so I thought you'd pick this one." She looked around, and then leaned in to whisper to Sora. "I even had someone stash you a mini fridge in your closet. It's already plugged in and filled. But don't let your father find out, you know he'd disapprove." Rose stood up straight again. "You'd better help him bring in the rest of the boxes. You can poke around in your room more later, after we get back from shopping."

"Shopping?" Sora asked, horrified. Shopping with his mother had always been a very...painful experience. His mother always made him try on a million different things that fit him to various degrees, all the while finding things for herself that Sora could never catch her trying on. She always squealed like a little girl when she saw Sora in some of the tighter outfits she picked out for him, and, somehow, made him get at least one of those.

-

The next day, Sora slept in until almost noon. He would have slept longer, had he not felt someone poking him. He was just going to hit said poking person and go back to sleep, and then he realized who it was poking him. A girl. With red-ish hair...He tried to remember who she was but couldn't figure it out.

"Hi." She said, smiling. Sora blinked. Then, suddenly, he screamed and jumped back, falling off the bed in the process.

A minute passed...

The top of Sora's head appeared above the bed, his eyes looking around. When he saw that the girl didn't seem to mean him any harm, he sat up, put his elbows on the bed, leaning on it, and yawned.

"Who are you?" he asked. "And what are you doing in my room? You're not going to kill me with a spoon are you? 'Cause, you know, I won't let you."

The girl blinked, taken aback at Sora's words. "Um...My name is Kairi. And I'm not going to kill you with a spoon...Not that that is even possible..."

Kairi...Sora knew that name, he knew that he knew it, but he couldn't remember where he knew it from. Kairi...Kairi...Oh yeah! She was that girl his mom told him about, the one that was going to show him around the island.

"Oh! Kairi! Hi. Sorry. You kinda woke me up..."

"I heard screaming," Rose said, appearing in the doorway. "You two alright?"

"Yeah Mom," Sora answered. "Kairi just scared me, thats all."

"Alright. Sora, you should get dressed. Kairi was going to show you around the island, and introduce you to some of her friends."

"Okay Mom. I'll be down in a minute."

Sora's mom nodded, and went back downstairs, Kairi close behind her. He sighed, and went over to his closet to pick out what to wear. He chose a pair of black shorts, and a light-weight blue long sleeve shirt. Not the best outfit for an island, but he needed the long sleeves to cover the scars on his wrist. He had cut himself repeatedly a year ago, but he after coming close to killing himself, he stopped. He still had the scars, but his parents didn't know, so he had to keep hiding them.

Sora ran a brush through his hair, trying to get his hair to obey gravity and stop sticking up in random spikes. The effect that he did get, though, was that he spent a few hours and at least one bottle of hair gel carefully arranging his hair this way. Or that a tornado went through his hair...

Sora went downstairs where his parents and Kairi waited.

-

Riku walked out of the house he shared with his mother, closing the door carefully so that he didn't make any noise, and locking it with his key. He grabbed his favorite notebook and pen, and started the short walk to the park. He was going to sit and watch the people, and maybe write a little.

He was walking past Kairi's house, thinking that he should invite her to go with him, when he saw her come out of the house next door, half dragging a kid along with her. Riku just stood there and watched as the poor boy got pulled along behind Kairi down to the sidewalk. Just as they were about to turn the other way, she spotted Riku. She waved and called him over.

"You look good today Riku." Kairi said, as Riku walked up to her and the boy. And, as always, he did. He was wearing regular shorts, and a tight green shirt that machted his deep, sea green eyes. His shoulder-length silver hair was pulled back into a low ponytail with a black band, that stood out against his light hair. "This," Kairi went on, "is Sora. Sora, this is Riku, one of my friends."

"Hi," Riku said, smiling. "It's nice to meet you. I was heading down to the park...Do you guys want to come?"

"Sure!" Kairi said. "Why not? The park is as good a place as any to start our tour, right Sora?"

"Um...Sure?"

"Right. Lets go!"

And so they went.

-

"Hey Riku," Kairi said, about five minutes after they all started towards the park.

"Yeah."

"Can I see what you wrote last night?"

"How did you know I--?"

"Because you hung up on me last night after saying you were writing." Kairi rolled her eyes. "Duh. So, can I see it?"

Riku sighed, handing over his notebook to Kairi.

"You write?" Sora asked.

"Yeah." Riku replied."I'm really not any good though..."

"Oh.."

"He's not serious, Sora." Kairi told him, having finished reading. "He's really good. Listen to this, it's his latest poem:

_She protected him, for years,  
__Steering him from unnecessary pain,  
__Knowing all this secrets,  
__And falling in love._

_He was the only one who knew  
__That she was an angel,  
__The only one who saw her snow white wings,  
__And the only one who knows what happened  
__Before she became an angel._

_She knows him, better than anyone,  
__She was always there when he needed her,  
__She comforted him, held him while he cried,  
__She was always there to help him up,  
__Not once did she ever fail to be there when he called,  
__Not once did she ever betray him. _

_He trusted her with his everything,  
__He told her his secret, and of what happed those nights,  
__After 'he' left, she was always there for him,  
__But he always made her leave, while it happened,  
__He didn't want her to see him scared or weak like that,  
__But she was always there to comfort him, and to stop the bleeding._

_She was hurt, when every night when 'he' came,  
__He silently begged her to go, when she couldn't help him,  
__She was always there after 'he' left, and held him tightly,  
__While he cried, and she cleaned his wounds,  
__And whispered softly in his ear that he would be alright. _

_She knew, that one night,  
__When 'he' came again, that this would be the last time  
__'He' hurt her love,  
__That this time, the beatings would be so much harder,  
__That the pain would be worse.  
__That this time, he would die._

_An angel with snow white wings  
__Waited for an angel with midnight black wings.  
__She greeted this new angel,  
__Kissing him softly, she was there to comfort him._

_His wounds were gone,  
__Not a mark on his perfect body, despite all the beatings not long ago,  
__He was away from 'him' and with the angel he loved so much,  
__He trusted her, and somehow knew that he would be alright._

_  
__That night, and angel with snow white wings, and midnight black hair,  
__Flew away with a new angel with midnight black wings, and snow white hair._

"...Wow," Sora said looking at Riku. "You wrote that?"

"Um...Yeah." Riku answered. "You like it?"

"Yeah! It's amazing!"

"Thanks." Riku looked at the ground, causing his hair to fall around his face, hiding his blush. He often got compliments on his writing from his teachers, and even more often from his friends, so he was used to them. But something about Sora liking his work made him proud of it, and made him happy that Kairi had read it aloud.

"Told you," Kairi said. "But did you listen? Nooooo, of course not..." Kairi kept talking, but Riku had already tuned her out, knowing that she could go on for half an hour. He looked up, and Sora was right in front of him, walking backwards. Riku looked right into Sora's eyes, and immedietly felt like he was drowning in his deep, sky-blue eyes. Sora stopped walking, and so did he. They just stood there, staring in each other eyes, like they were looking into the other's soul.

Riku saw the depression deep in Sora's eyes, and the anger. He could tell Sora was hurting, that there was something that he hid from everyone. He could tell Sora's secret was tearing him apart...

Sora saw the deep sadness in Riku's eyes. He could tell that Riku, too, was in a lot of pain, deep inside him. He could tell that Riku needed someone, just like he did. So he smiled, and held out his hand for Riku.

_Maybe we can be friends_, Sora thought. _Maybe we can help each other. Maybe we could even save each other..._


	2. Silver and Pain

Ok, here it is. The next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Alyssa and Rose. Oh, and the plot. Kinda. You see, I don't have much of one...but oh well! I will!!! I WILL!!

(Yes, I'm very much insane.)

--

"So," Riku said to Sora, "How do you like the Island so far?" They were sitting on a bench in Destiny Island's park. It was the only park on the island, and the only part of the island that was filled with green. It even had trees that you don't usually see on islands...apparently it had something to do with the weird atmosphere around the island.

Kairi had walked off a few minutes ago to find ice-cream, leaving Riku and Sora on a bench. Ice-cream less, of course.

"It's alright," Sora answered. "To tell the truth, it looks like one of those places where everyone is perfect, and mothers make food more fit for fancy restaurants..." Sora trailed off, as Riku started laughing at him. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing," Riku said, trying to control his laughter. "You are right though...It does seem like that kind of place. I'm sorry, I can't stop laughing..." Riku was leaning down; laughing so hard one would think he was insane. Soon after, Sora joined in, finding that laughter really is infectious.

"What are you boys laughing at?" The question came from in front of them, from someone that Sora did not know.

"Haha, Alyssa, haha, hi. We're just laughing at nothing."

"Really, Riku? Must be some funny nothing." She looked at Sora, finally noticing that she didn't know him. "Who's this?" She asked.

"Ha, Alyssa, this is Sora. Sora, Alyssa. Alyssa is the local weirdo, or at least that's what we call her. Ow, no need to hit me Alyssa. She's always just disappearing, and weird things happen to her...But she's really cool!" Riku added, seeing that Alyssa was about to hit him again.

"Why, thank you Riku. You're so kind." She looked back towards Sora, and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Sora." Sora took her hand and shook it, liking Alyssa instantly. He looked her up and down, taking in her long, dark brown hair, her coal black eyes, and her soft, pretty features. She was wearing a semi-tight short sleeve red shirt, and dark blue jeans. Sora looked at her wrist, and saw that she had scars going up to her elbow. "I used to cut myself," Alyssa said, noticing Sora staring at her scars. Sora blushed and looked away, something that Riku thought was incredibly cute. "It's alright, everyone knows about it. And those that don't know eventually find out. I'm the cause of much gossip around here. It's fun." She giggled.

"Thank you, Alyssa," Riku said sarcastically. "That's only the five thousandth time I've heard you say that. Why not say it again one more time for all the people that didn't hear?"

"Ok! I used to cut--"

"I was NOT serious! You should come up with something else to tell people so that--"

"Alyssa!" Kairi yelled, having finished her ice-cream and spotting Alyssa standing and talking to the boys. "You're back! Yay!"

"Kairi! Hey! What's up?"

"Nothing really...I'm kinda supposed to be showing Sora around the island...Oh! But Riku can do that! We should go watch a movie or something...Girl time." Alyssa grinned, looking slightly evil. "Is that alright with you guys?" Kairi asked Sora and Riku.

Riku looked at Sora, who just shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

"Alright," Alyssa and Kairi said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. "We'll see you later." They walked off, talking about some girly thing.

"...Well, that was kinda weird." Riku looked at Sora, smiling. "We should probably start your tour."

"Um...Yeah." Sora looked into Riku's eyes again, almost overwhelmed by the depth, and the emotion in them.

"Alright, come on. We'll start--well, I guess continue, since this was supposed to be the first stop of your tour--we'll go the little cafe, and get something cool to drink. It's kind of the hang out for teens around here...Maybe we'll run into the rest of the group." Riku started walking, and Sora walked along beside him.

-

_I wonder what he's hiding,_ Riku thought as they were walking. _I wonder if anyone else can even tell he's hiding anything._ _It shows in his eyes, though, if you look deep enough. I wonder what he's thinking..._

"Do you only write poems," Sora asked.

"No..." Riku replied, surprised. "I sometimes write short stories, too. Why?"

"I was just wondering...Can I read some? Of your other poems, I mean." Sora looked away, trying not to blush.

"Um...Sure. Not these though, okay? Do you have an email address? I could send you some tonight..."

"Yeah. Remind me and I'll write it down for you later."

"Alright." Riku smiled at Sora, who turned and smiled back at him.

_I think I'm starting to fall for him..._ Sora thought, still looking at Riku even though he had turned back to watch where he was going. _But could anyone blame me? He's like...an angel, he's so beautiful. _Sora had long ago figured out he was gay. He himself had no problems with his preference, and neither did his mother, but his father was a different story...

_He's beautiful,_ Riku thought, stealing peeks at Sora as they walked, watching Sora watch him. _He seems almost angelic, with his child-like face, and his unruly hair chocolate brown hair..._Riku too has known for a long time that he was gay. Kairi and Alyssa knew--they had confronted him soon after he figured it out--and they were fine with it, but no one else knew.

-

"I'm back!" Sora called, as he walked into his house. "Anyone here?" He stood still for a minute, waiting for someone to answer. When no one did, he walked into the kitchen to get something to eat.

"Rose will be back with dinner in about an hour, Sora." Said a voice behind him. Sora froze. "You shouldn't eat. It would ruin your appetite. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?" Sora just stood there, in front of the fridge, thinking it was a rhetorical question, and afraid to turn around and face his father. "I asked you a question, boy." Sora could feel the anger in the voice... "Are you going to answer?"

"No, sir, I wouldn't want to ruin my appetite."

Simon stood up, and walked over to stand behind Sora, who gripped tightly the handles of the fridge, afraid. "You look at me when you talk to me, boy. Hear me?"

"Yes, sir." Sora turned and looked at the floor in front of his father, knowing from years of experience that something was going to happen...something that would hurt Sora.

-

"So, what do you think of Sora, the new guy?" Kairi and Alyssa were talking back at Alyssa's house, after Kairi had filled Alyssa in on what happened during the week she was gone.

"I'm not sure...He seems pretty cool. Riku sure liked him. ...And Sora sure seemed to like Riku..." Kairi grinned, looking slightly evil. Alyssa joined her a second later, both of them thinking the same thing.

"How should we get them together?" Kairi asked, casually.

"Wait...Do we know for sure Sora is gay?"

"No."

"Didn't think so." They frowned, thinking that might cause a small problem.

"Maybe we should get other people in on this to help?"

"It depends...who are you thinking?" She saw the smile on Kairi's face, and knew immediately who she was talking about. "Let's call her."

-

"I'm home!" Sora's mother called from downstairs. "And I have pizza! You guys here?"

"Yeah, honey." Simon called back. "We'll be down in a minute." He pulled away from Sora, letting him up from against his wall. "Get dressed," he whispered to Sora, as he zipped up his pants. "Clean up, and get downstairs, you worthless piece of nothing. And hurry up!" Simon walked out of Sora's room, and downstairs to greet his wife.

Sora turned around so his back was against the wall, and slide down, wincing when he hit the floor. He hugged his legs to his chest, putting his head down. He stayed that way for a minute, then got up and quickly got dressed, knowing that his father would punish him again if he didn't listen. He went to the bathroom to wash his face, put on a smile, and walked downstairs to eat pizza.

-

Riku walked into his room, a few hours after leaving Sora. He had come home, where his mother had dinner all ready. They ate homemade roast, and then watched an old movie.

He turned on his computer, and logged into his instant messenger. He added the screen name to his list under Sora's name, and saw that he was on. He smiled to himself, and sent an instant message to Sora.

Riku:: **Hey Sora. How are you?**

Sora:: _oh, hey riku. i'm...alright. you?_

Riku:: **I'm good. Are you really alright?**

Sora::_ no. not really._

Riku:: **What's wrong?**

Sora::

Riku:: **Sora?**

Sora::_ i don't think i should tell you..._

Riku:: **Sora, you can tell me anything. I'll help in anyway I can, and if you want, I'll keep it a secret just between us. **

Riku:: **But if you don't want to tell me, don't.**

Riku was getting worried that something was really wrong, and he hoped Sora would tell him. He wanted to help the younger boy in any way he could, and he wanted Sora to feel he could tell him anything.

Sora::_ ...my dad raped me._

Sora:: _riku, you can't tell anyone! please promise me you won't! if anyone finds out, he'll kill me. please riku!_

Riku::** Sora, I promise. Calm down. I won't tell anyone...without your permission. I don't want anything to happen to you Sora. I hate that he does that to you, and I hate I can't do anything about it. I've never felt the connection with anybody that I felt with you, earlier when we were walking towards the park. I feel like an idiot for bringing it up now, but I did. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about????**

Sora:: _yeah, riku. i do. i felt it too. thank you, for not feeling sorry for me. and for caring. i don't think anyone has really ever cared as much as you seem to._

Riku:: **I don't just seem to care about you Sora. ...I really do. **

Sora::_ thanks riku. let's be best friends, ok? we can help each other. i know you have problems of your own, i can see it in your eyes. and you know i do. _

Riku:: **Alright Sora. Let's be best friends. **

Sora::

Riku:: **So, changing the subject, Do you want to come over to the small island tomorrow and meet the rest of the gang?**

Sora:: _yeah, of course. what time?_

Riku::** Well, we don't meet there until ****noon****, but I usually get there around ****7 a.m.**** to practice...but if you don't want to go that early, Kairi can come and get you later.**

Sora::_ no, actually, earlier works better for me. it gets me out of the house earlier, lol. any idea what time we'd be back?_

Riku:: **Um...probably not until late...like 9 or ****10 p.m.**** if you plan on staying with me...But if you need to be home earlier than that, I can bring you back.**

Sora:: _no, i'd rather stay later. but my mom likes to have an idea when i'll be back so she can freak out if i'm late, lol. _

Riku::** Heh, alright. Hey, I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow morning, around ****quarter to seven**

Sora::_ yeah, see you then. bye riku._

Riku:: **Goodnight, Sora. **

Riku signed off, extremely pleased that Sora was going with him tomorrow. He knew why he was so happy for the boy's company, but he was reluctant to admit it to himself. He had a crush on the boy. Not just any crush, but a huge one. He felt like he had completely fallen for Sora's blue eyes, brown hair, and child-like smile. But he didn't even know if Sora liked guys that way. So, he decided to keep it to himself. For now.

-

Riku got up the next morning at sunrise, like he always does. He knew he had a little bit of time before he had to get Sora and take him to the island, so he took a shower before getting dressed.

Before he left, he looked in the mirror to make sure he looked alright. He wanted to look good for Sora, so maybe Sora will like him the way he likes Sora...

Riku was wearing a sleeve-less black turtle neck shirt that showed off all his muscles, and a pair of dark blue shorts that looked really good on him. His hair was tied back, with part of his bangs hanging down, framing his beautiful eyes. He smiled to himself in the mirror, knowing that he looked awesome.

He walked over to Sora's, and got there right at 6:45. He knocked on the door, and it opened right away, like someone was waiting for him. Sora came out quickly, turning to close the door behind him. When Sora turned back around, Riku saw that he had a black eye, and a swollen lip that was still bleeding.

"Come on," Sora said, looking at the ground. "Let's get out of here. Please."

Riku started leading the way to the docks, where his boat was kept. Sora was walking beside him, staring at the ground. Riku kept looking over at him, wanting to ask him if he was alright, but worried at what Sora might say. He decided to just ask him about it once they got to the island, and they were alone. He looked over at Sora again, and saw that he was crying.

-

Ok, I know. It took me more than a week. I was hoping to get this up here, like, forever ago. But I didn't. I'm sorry. And its not even long! The next chapter will be. At least, it'll be longer than this. Hehe..

Anyway...I want to thank dirtyd488 for being my first reveiw-er person!! yay! And my good friend GoddessofTrix who also reveiwed. Yay!! People actually like this...its amazing. Just amazing.


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